China Fills Last Guest Space
The organisers of the Mathon Melrose Sevens have announced that a team from the People’s Republic of China is set to participate in this year’s event – the first time that a Chinese side has competed in a sevens tournament in Scotland.
The China Agricultural University in Beijing is sending a 10-man squad which is to be selected from the international squad that competes in the Hong Kong Sevens in late March. The group will include their flyer, Li Yang, who has clocked a time of 10.6 seconds over 100 metres.
The involvement of the Chinese team follows a Melrose club tradition of inviting teams from countries where rugby is developing to participate in the Melrose Sevens. Previous participants include teams from Uraguay, Portugal, Italy and Japan.
Like many other emerging unions, the Chinese Rugby Football Union (CRU) is focusing on the seven-a-side game to develop the sport within China. The game is progressing mainly through the People’s Liberation Army and China’s universities, with the Chinese Agricultural University in Beijing often acting as the venue for some of the long, in-house training camps that the CRU organises for the international squad.
Former Scotland international and Melrose club stalwart, Keith Robertson has been instrumental in the drive to bring the Chinese team to this year’s 125th anniversary celebrations at the club. Also vital has been the involvement Peter Wheeler, Chief Executive of the Leicester Tigers. The Tigers, who are also participating in this year’s tournament, have formed a partnership with the CRU aimed at assisting the development of the sport within China – a partnership that saw Martin Johnston and Rory Underwood visit the country in 2006 to help increase the sport’s profile.
Keith Robertson said; “We’re obviously delighted that the China Agricultural University team will be playing at this year’s Melrose Sevens. As the place where rugby sevens was first developed 125 years ago, we have always tried to promote the development of the sport in whatever way we can and China is a nation that has huge potential as a rugby-playing country. They won the bowl tournament at the 2006 Hong Kong Sevens and were fourth in Asian Sevens that same year. Their squad is made up of some really exciting players and we’re confident that they will play a significant part in the spectacle of sevens rugby that the club has lined up for this year.”
Securing Chinese participation in the event, however, has not been a simple process and Melrose RFC has been assisted by Dr Carol Fan who acted on behalf of the Leicester Tigers for their visit to China in 2006 and who will ensure that all the required documentation and Visas are in place for the Chinese squad to travel to Melrose.
Keith Robertson continued; “Dr Fan’s involvement has been essential for us. There’s a complex system of protocol and procedures within the Chinese Ministry of State General Administration of Sport, the Department of Foreign Affairs and the British Embassy and she has guided us through the entire process. Dr Fan will travel to China at the end of March to ensure everything goes to plan, and will also travel with the squad to Melrose.”
This year’s Mathon Melrose Sevens takes place on 12 April and will feature teams including Roma, Ulster, South Africa’s Shimlas and Australia’s Gold Coast breaks as well as the Leicester Tigers and the Chinese Agricultural University. A capacity crowd is expected to attend the tournament which is celebrating the 125th anniversary of the founding of the sport in 1883 when apprentice butcher Ned Haig suggested the competition as a means of raising funds for the club.
This year’s celebrations also feature competitions for ladies, youths and veterans, as well as an increased programme of social events including an entertainment marquee and a tented village featuring food, drink and retail outlets, with the clubhouse facilities also open as usual. It is anticipated that around eighteen thousand people will visit Melrose and the surrounding area over the three days of the event.
The Mathon Melrose Sevens is supported by funding partners Scottish Borders Council, Scottish Enterprise Borders and EventScotland’s Regional Events Programme. Key sponsors include Mathion Finance, Emirates, Baker Tilley, Kukri and Gilbert.
Melrose RFC are indebted to Dr. Carol Fan, www.chinaenglandrugby.com and Peter Wheeler, Chief Executive, Leicester Tigers, for their assistance in securing the participation of China Agricultural University, at the 125th Anniversary of seven-a-side rugby, on 12th April 2008.
The Chinese Rugby Football Union, like many other emerging unions, are focusing on the seven-a-side game to develop the sport within China.
Peter Wheeler led the Leicester Tigers initiative to form a partnership with the Chinese Rugby Football Union (CRU), with the objective of assisting in the development of the sport within China. Martin Johnston and Rory Underwood went out to China, in 2006, to help increase the profile of the sport and forge the link between their Club and the CRU.
For those who know Peter well, you may have a quiet chuckle to yourself when you hear that, as a result of his involvement, he was dubbed the “The Henry Kissinger of Chinese Rugby” by the Chinese media.
Rugby union, in China, is developing mainly through the army and its universities. It is not uncommon for the CRU to be in a position to provide long, in-house training camps for their International squad.
The China Agricultural University, in Beijing, is often the venue for these camps and it is no coincidence that it is the University team that will participate at Melrose 125.
The 10 man squad, for Melrose, will be selected from the International squad that competes at Hong Kong Sevens, over the last weekend in March, and will include their flyer, Li Yang, who has clocked a time of 10.6 seconds over 100 metres.
China won the Bowl Tournament at Hong Sevens in 2006 and were fourth in the Asian Sevens in the same year.
Securing Chinese participation at Melrose Sevens was not a simple process.
The officials of Melrose RFC would not have been able to navigate their way through the protocol and procedures, within the Chinese Ministry of State General Administration of Sport (SGAS), their Department of Foreign Affairs and the requirements of the British Embassy, without the assistance of Dr. Carol Fan.
Dr. Fan, who acted on behalf of Leicester Tigers for their visit to China in June 2006, has an MBA in International Relations and a PhD in China Economic Law. She travelled to China, on behalf of Melrose RFC, at the beginning of January, to ensure that all the required documentation and Visas are in place for the Chinese squad to travel to Melrose.
Carol will return to China, towards the end of March, to ensure that everything goes to plan
and will travel with the squad to Melrose.
The mission statement of the company is to open the doors between Chinese and British rugby so enabling Chinese rugby to become an acknowledged and active developing force, underpinned by a financially viable and successful Chinese-British business connection, leading to the generation of a range of goodwill business and sporting ventures between the two nations.
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